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Military ©rder of ff?e Isoyal lse|ion 

OF THE 

Onifed States. 

COMMANDER OF THE DI^lCT OF (JOLUAfBI^ 

WAR PAPERS. 

68 

o^rmy of the dumber-land and the Battle of 
Stone's I^iver. 

prepared by companion 
Lieutenant-Colonel 

GILBERT C. KIMIFFIN, 

U. S. Volunteers, 

READ AT THE STATED MEETING OF APRIL 3, 1907. 



■ 11 
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Armg of % (Ewmforlatto atto tlj* 2Jatth> of 
j^iotu? jRioer. 



The Army of the Ohio, after crowding into the space of six 
weeks more hard marching and fighting than fell to the lot of 
any other army in the United States during the summer of 
1862, was, on the last of October, encamped in the vicinity of 
Bowling Green, Kentucky. General Bragg and Kirby Smith, 
turning Buell's left flank, had invaded Kentucky, gained the 
rear of Buell, threatened his base at Louisville, and but for the 
vis inertia which always seemed to seize upon the Confederates 
when in sight of complete victory, would have captured Louis- 
ville. The battle of Perry ville resulting in the hasty exit of 
the combined armies of Bragg and Smith through Cumberland 
Gap into East Tennessee, the deliberate sweep of Buell's col- 
umns in their rear, the halt at Crab Orchard, and the return 
march towards Nashville are part of the events of an earlier 
chapter in the history of the rebellion. The occupation of 
East Tennessee by the Lmion Army had from the commence- 
ment of hostilities been an object dear to the great heart of 
President Lincoln. He had hoped for its accomplishment 
under General Sherman. It had been included in the instruc- 
tions to General Buell, but eighteen months had passed and 
the Confederate flag still waved in triumph from the spire of 
the court-house at Knoxville. The retreat of the Confederate 
Army into East Tennessee in what was reported as a routed 
and disorganized condition had seemed like a favorable op- 
portunity to carry out the long-cherished design of the Gov- 



ernment. The movement of large armies across the country 
upon a map in the War Office, although apparently practicable, 
bore so little relation to actual campaigning as to have already 
caused the decapitation of more than one general. 

The positive refusal of General Buell to march 60,000 men 
into a sterile and hostile country across a range of mountains 
in pursuit of an army of equal strength with his own, when by 
simply turning southward he could meet it around the western 
spur of the same range, although it has since been upheld by 
every military authority, caused his prompt removal from 
command of the army he had organized and led to victory. 
The army had been slow to believe in the incapacity of Gen- 
eral Buell, and had recognized the wisdom of his change of 
front from Cumberland Gap towards Nashville, but there were 
causes for dissatisfaction, which, in the absence of knowledge 
as to the difficulties under which he labored were attributed to 
him. A full knowledge of all the circumstances would have 
transferred them to the War Department. Major-General 
William S. Rosecrans, the newly-appointed commander of the 
Army of the Cumberland, graduated at West Point July 1, 
1842, as brevet second lieutenant corps of engineers. He 
resigned from the army April 1, 1854, and entered civil life at 
Cincinnati as a civil engineer and architect. His energy and 
capability for large undertakings, coupled with an inherent 
capacity for command, caused him to be selected as superin- 
tendent of a cannel coal company in Virginia and president of 
the Coal River Navigation Company. 

The discovery of coal oil at this period at once attracted his at- 
tention, and he had embarked in its manufacture when the 
tocsin of war called him into the field. His first duty was as 
volunteer aid to General McClellan, where his military expe- 
rience rendered him very efficient in the organization of troops. 



He became commander of Camp Chase, colonel on the staff, 
chief engineer of the State of Ohio, and colonel Twenty-third 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, commanded later by Rutherford B. 
Hayes and Stanley Matthews, and was appointed brigadier- 
general U. S. A., May 16, 1861. After conducting the cam- 
paigns in West Virginia to a successful issue he was ordered 
South and assigned to command of a division in the Army of 
the Mississippi under General Pope. He participated credit- 
ably in the siege of Corinth, and after its evacuation, and the 
transfer of General Pope to the eastern army assumed com- 
mand of the Army of the Mississippi and District of Corinth. 
His heroic defense of that post and pursuit of Van Dorn's de- 
feated army following closely upon his military record in 
West Virginia again attracted the attention of the President 
and pointed him out as eminently fitted to succeed General 
Buell. General Rosecrans ordered to proceed to Cincinnati 
did not specify the command to which he was to be assigned. 
His commission as major-general, dated September 16th, was 
of much later date than the commissions of Buell, Thomas, 
McCook, and Crittenden. General Thomas ranked him five 
months — McCook and Crittenden two months. On opening 
his orders at Cincinnati he found an autograph letter from 
General Halleck directing him to proceed to Louisville and 
relieve General Buell in command of the Army of the Ohio. 
The usual method has always been to issue simultaneous or- 
ders to both officers, thus affording time to the officer to be 
relieved in which to arrange the details of his office, but Hal- 
leck was a law unto himself, and in relieving an army officer 
usually did it in a way to render it equivalent to dismissal from 
the service. Rosecrans afterward referred to his visit to Buell's 
headquarters as more like that of a constable bearing a writ 
for the ejectment of a tenant than as a general on his way to 



relieve a brother officer in command of an army. The diffi- 
culty of rank was bridged over by antedating Rosecrans' com- 
mission to March 16th. In a subsequent interview with Gen- 
eral Thomas, when that splendid soldier expressed the pleasure 
it would give him to serve under a general who had given such 
satisfactory evidence of fitness to command, but felt doubts as 
to his right to do so on account of the disparity of their rank, 
General Rosecrans frankly revealed the means by which his 
commission had been made to date from the period of his 
operations in Western Virginia, and that as it now stood, Gen- 
eral Thomas need have no fears of compromising his dignity 
as a United States officer. The explanation was entirely sat- 
isfactory, and no question of the superior rank of the com- 
manding general was ever raised. After a rest and visit to 
his family of only sixty hours, General Rosecrans proceeded 
to Louisville, and assumed command of the army on the 28th 
of October, and on the 30th joined it at Bowling Green. 

Here the first interview took place between the General and 
his corps commanders. Major-General George H. Thomas, 
strong, grave, benignant, majestic in deportment, had now 
been with the army a year ; revered by the entire army, loved 
by his old division, he was a man to be trusted. Major-Gen- 
eral Thomas L. Crittenden, a son of Senator Critten- 
den, of Kentucky, bold, impetuous, and of knightly 
grace of manner, possessed of that cheerful courage which 
finds its best expression on the battle field, the idol of his old 
division, whose gallant conduct at Shiloh had won for its 
brave commander promotion to the rank of major-general. 
Major-General Alexander McD. McCook, the antipodes of 
Thomas, of never-failing good humor and undoubted courage, 
apt to neglect proper precautions for the safety of his com- 
mand, but ever ready to assume all the responsibility of failure, 



over-confident, generous, yielding in his disposition, yet en- 
joying the confidence of the men whose heroism at Shiloh had 
won the eulogies of Sherman, added a second star upon his 
broad shoulders, and saved him from reproach after the re- 
pulse upon the field at Perryville. In physique the three corps 
commanders were as unlike as in personal character. Thomas 
had a massive, full-rounded, erect and powerful figure, six 
feet in stature. His features heavy but well carved, with 
a strong, combative nose, his upper lip and square jaws and 
chin covered with a growth of sandy beard slightly silvered, 
bushy brows set like a canopy over clear blue eyes, a broad, 
white forehead, and curly golden hair in luxuriant profusion, 
covering a large, well- formed head. Out of fifty- four years 
of life he had worn the uniform of a United States officer 
twenty-two years, and in all that time he had borne himself 
as an officer and a gentleman. Altogether a soldier, simple 
and unaffected, honest, truthful, patient, obedient to orders 
and requiring obedience, he never swerved an iota from the 
path of duty; acting upon well-matured opinions, he was a 
friend to be loved and an enemy to be feared. 

Crittenden was tall, slender, and straight as an arrow. His 
clean-cut features were handsomely modeled, his eyes dark and 
full of expression, were full of mirth when there was no cause 
for anger — then they shone with a dangerous light — a thin 
black beard worn full and pointed at the end, long flowing 
locks of raven hair falling nearly to his shoulders, beneath a 
black felt hat turned up at the sides, booted and spurred, with 
sword dangling at his side, and mounted upon his blooded 
horse, he was indeed a knight "without fear and without re- 
proach." A long experience in the diplomatic service and in 
refined society had imparted a high degree of grace and polish 
of manner, which united to fair intellectual attainments and 



a magnetic smile which greeted all, from the simplest private 
soldier to the highest officer in his command, won the admira- 
tion and boundless affection of all who knew him. 

McCook, low in stature, was inclined to be fleshy, a full 
face innocent of beard, with the exception of a slight mus- 
tache, a broad low forehead, regular features easily wrought 
into a smile, light hair and a well-shaped head gave him a 
boyish appearance. Closer observation revealed the presence 
of more character. There was in the steadiness of gaze, the 
massive jaws, and the respectful demeanor of his subordinate 
officers, reason to believe that the youthful major-general had 
fairly won the twin stars that shone upon his shoulder. He 
had graduated from West Point with the brevet rank of second 
lieutenant, had served in several campaigns against the Indians, 
been instructor in infantry tactics at West Point, where the 
breaking out of the war found him at thirty years of age. 
Ordered to Columbus, Ohio, as mustering and disbursing offi- 
cer, he was appointed colonel of the First Ohio Infantry, which 
he led in the first battle of Bull Run, receiving commendation 
where so many failed to deserve it. Reward came in the form 
of a commission as brigadier-general, with orders to report 
for duty to General Buell. The heroic conduct of his division 
at Shiloh added another star, and, but for the censure of Gen- 
eral Buell for bringing on the battle of Perryville without or- 
ders, there was no reason why he should not be entrusted with 
the command to which his rank entitled him. 

Notwithstanding General Rosecrans was a stranger to the 
army, to the command of which he had been assigned, his name 
had long been familiar to both officers and men, for war litera- 
ture had sounded his praises. They had followed him through 
his campaigns in Western Virginia, had heard the sharp vol- 
leys of his musketry on their left at the siege of Corinth, and 



more recently the country had been electrified by his brilliant 
victory over Van Dorn. The contrast between Generals Bueft 
and Rosecrans was not more marked in personal appearance 
than in methods. The former was cold, impassive, and polite ; 
the latter boisterous, warm-hearted, and brusque. The frigid 
dignity which hedged the person of Buell, enclosing depart- 
ment headquarters as within a wall of ice, behind which silence 
reigned, and through the guarded portals of which none ven- 
tured unbidden, was swept away by General Rosecrans, who 
transformed its solemn precincts into a busy workhouse, where 
chiefs of staff departments, surrounded by an army of clerks, 
wrought at their respective vocations, placing the new com- 
mander en rapport with the most minute details of his army. 
Most of his staff accompanied him from the Army of the Mis- 
sissippi. They had proved themselves capable and trustworthy. 
and the general naturally desired the presence of old friends 
in his military family. But there was at least one officer of 
the old department staff with whom the entire army parted with 
sincere regret — Colonel James B. Fry, Buell's adjutant-general 
and chief of staff. The kindness of manner, the inexhaustible 
patience and good humor and never-failing knowledge of mili- 
tary affairs which this officer possessed had gone far to soften 
the asperities and dispel the chill which hung about depart- 
ment headquarters. 

Brigadier-General D. S. Stanley reported for duty as chief 
of cavalry early in December, and at once assumed command. 

General Stanley graduated at West Point in the class of 
1852. and was assigned to the Second Dragoons with t!*e rank 
of second lieutenant. After three years' >ervice on the plain- 
he was transferred to the First Cavalry as first lieutenant, then 
under command of Colonel E. V. Sumner. Joe Johns*on waj 
lieutenant-colonel, and John Sedgwick and William H. Emor\ 



10 

majors. In 1857 he accompanied Colonel Sumner on an ex- 
pedition against the Cheyenne Indians, in which he was en- 
gaged in a sharp fight on Solomon's Fork of the Kansas River, 
in which the Indians were defeated. In 1858 he was engaged 
in the Utah Expedition, and in the same year he crossed the 
plains to the northern boundary of Texas. In a sharp and de- 
cisive battle with the Comanches Lieutenant Stanley displayed 
such courage and skill in handling his command as to receive 
the complimentary orders of General Scott. The opening of 
the rebellion found him stationed at Fort Scott, Arkansas, 
where, in March, he received his commission as captain in the 
Fourth Cavalry. His command was included in the surrender 
made by General Twiggs, but the heart of the brave officer 
beat loyal to the flag of his country, and he resolved upon a 
march northward to Kansas City, Mo. Uniting his force with 
that at Fort Smith, the column moved through the Indian 
country. A Confederate force sent against them was, on 
the eighth of May, captured and paroled. On the fifteenth of 
June they occupied Kansas City, and marched at once upon 
Independence, where Captain Stanley was fired upon while 
carrying a flag of truce. He joined General Lyon in his ex- 
pedition against Springfield, which was occupied July twelfth. 
He participated in the various engagements in Missouri in the 
summer of 1861, displaying in an eminent degree the dash and 
conspicuous courage which so distinguished him in his subse- 
quent career, and in September he reported with his regiment 
to General Fremont at St. Louis. He marched against Price 
from Syracuse, and in November moved against Springfield. 
Captain Stanley was appointed brigadier-general in November, 
1861, and in March, 1862, was assigned to the command of 
the Second division of Pope's army in the expedition against 
New Madrid and Island No. 10, the Fort Pillow Expedition, 



11 

and in the siege of Corinth. Here his acquaintance with Gen- 
eral Rosecrans began, ripening into sincere attachment under 
the fire of Price's guns at Iuka, and the yet fiercer blaze of 
Van Dorn's hard-fighting battalions at Corinth in October. 
His conspicuous gallantry on this occasion added a second star 
to the insignia of his rank and caused him to be selected by 
his old commander in arms to organize and lead the cavalry 
of his new command. In person General Stanley was tall and 
erect. A handsome face and long, flowing beard, slightly sil- 
vered, engaging in manner and full of enthusiasm for the suc- 
cess of the cause in which he held his own life as nothing in 
comparison, he soon impressed his personality upon the cavalry 
of the Army of the Cumberland and made it a reliable branch 
of the service. 

December, 1862, was a busy month. The year was fast 
drawing to a close, and both Union and Confederate generals 
had little to report save plots and counter-plots. On the part of 
each there was little that was encouraging. The early spring 
had found Middle and West Tennessee in the possession of 
the former. Two large armies occupied all prominent points, 
and the beaten Confederates encamped in Mississippi were con- 
fronted by an army too powerful for them to attack. 

Early autumn witnessed the enforced retirement of Buell's 
army to the line of the Ohio River, while the Confederates 
reaped the harvests in Kentucky and Middle Tennessee. 

The tenth of October found Grant embarked upon his march 
southward to Vicksburg, driving Pemberton before him. Sher- 
man arranging for co-operation by water, the Army of the 
Cumberland encamped near Nashville, with Bragg's twice de- 
feated army in its front, and Hindman's beaten troops flying 
before the victorious divisions of Herron and Blunt from the 
battle field of prairie Grove. 



12 

East Tennessee being left comparatively free from molesta- 
tion by the abandonment of pursuit through Cumberland Gap, 
General Kirby Smith was at liberty to reinforce points more 
strongly threatened. He had no sooner succeeded in collecting 
his stragglers and reorganizing his army, reinforcing it by 
several new regiments, than, in compliance with orders from 
the Confederate War Department, he dispatched Stevenson's 
division to the relief of Pemberton at Grenada, and McCown, 
with his division, to report to Bragg at Murfreesboro. 

Orders for a forward movement were issued by Gen- 
eral Rosecrans on Wednesday, the twenty-fourth of 
December, and on Christmas morning the camps were 
alive with preparation. The day was spent in writ- 
ing to loved ones far away among the snow-covered hills 
of the great Northwest. Tattoo found men discussing the 
chances of coming battle. Here and there was a soldier giving 
the last finishing touch to the gleaming gun-barrel. The sur- 
geon, in his tent, sat before a table on which in glittering dis- 
play lay the implements of his craft. The long, keen knife, 
the saw, the probe, were each in turn subjected to close inspec- 
tion and carefully adjusted in the case. Field officers paid a 
last visit to their faithful chargers and exhorted grooms to feed 
early and not to forget to bring along an extra feed lest per- 
chance the following night would find the troops far in ad- 
vance of the wagons. Quartermasters, that hard- worked and 
little-appreciated class of officers, toiling through the long night 
with their loaded wagon trains getting into position for an 
orderly march ; commissaries, upon whose vigilance all de- 
pended, carrying out orders for three days' rations in haver- 
sacks and five days' more in wagons. A busy day was fol- 
lowed by a busy night. The clatter of horses hoofs upon the 
turnpike roads leading out of Nashville to the encampments 



13 

sounded all through the night. Now a solitary orderly gal- 
loped down from division headquarters bearing a message to 
a brigade commander. Soon a group of officers rode gaily 
by from a late carousal at the St. Cloud ; then came a corps 
commander with staff and escort from conference with the 
chief, his last injunction ringing in his ears, "We move to- 
morrow, gentlemen. We shall begin to skirmish probably as 
soon as we pass the outposts. Press them hard. Drive them 
out of their nests. Make them fight or run. Strike hard and 
fast ; give them no rest. Fight them ! fight them ! fight them ! 
I say," as the uplifted right hand emphasized each sentence 
upon the palm of the left hand. Thomas received the orders 
with a grim smile of approval ; McCook's sharp eyes twinkled 
with enjoyment ; Crittenden straightened his trim figure, and 
his eyes shone as he stalked out of the room, followed by his 
aides, as if in haste to begin his part of the programme. There 
was glorious assurance in the manly stride, the determined 
look, and in the triple armor with which he is clad who hath 
his quarrel just; and his must have been a dull ear, indeed, 
who did not note, in the merry jest and tuneful song that 
floated along the ranks, the augury of victory. 

At the head of their respective columns rode Thomas, ac- 
companied by his staff officers, with the brave and accom- 
plished Major George E. Flynt at their head. There was Yon 
Schroeder, Mack, Mackey, and the rest. McCook, with Lang- 
don, Xodine, Thruston, Campbell, and Williams. Crittenden, 
followed by Starling, Loder, Mendenhall, Buford, John Mc- 
Cook, Knox, and the writer of this chronicle. Brave hearts 
beat high that day. On the right, far in advance of the in- 
fantry, rode Stanley, with trusty Sinclair by his side, while his 
cavalry swept on out the Nolensville pike, driving Wheeler's 
pickets before them. 



14 

Sturdy John Kennett, with a brigade of cavalry at his heels, 
advanced upon the broad turnpike road straight toward the 
enemy, nor stopped until nightfall, notwithstanding constant 
skirmishing, when, on reaching an eminence that overlooked 
La Vergne, a large force was encountered. The plain below 
was dotted with groups of cavalry. Suddenly a puff of smoke 
and a shell well aimed along the line of the road, carried death 
in its track. Another and another followed in quick succes- 
sion, clearing the road as fast as men's legs could carry them. 
The head of Palmer's infantry column came up and halted at 
the side of the road. General Crittenden and his staff rode 
forward to watch the artillery duel now in progress — for 
Newell's battery had unlimbered at the first shot and was 
firing rapidly. Mr. Robert H. Crittenden (a brother of the 
general), and the writer, his boon companion, riding side by 
side, advanced beyond their companions in full view of the 
artillerists, presenting a conspicuous mark. Quick as light- 
ning a shell came hissing through the air and passed in the 
narrow space of a yard between their horses. It is needless 
to add that, their curiosity being gratified, they lost no time 
in seeking the friendly cover of a log-house by the roadside. 
Newell planted his shots from two three-inch Rodmans with 
such dexterity as to silence the enemy's battery of four guns. 
Colonel Enyart, with the First Kentucky and the Thirty-first 
Indiana Infantry, supported on the right by Colonel W. C. 
Whitaker with the Sixth Kentucky and the Thirty-first In- 
diana Infantry, supported on the right by Colonel W. C. Whita- 
ker with the Sixth Kentucky and Ninth Indiana, preceded by 
Colonel Murray with the Third Kentucky Cavalry, now moved 
to the left and advanced through the cedars towards Stony 
Creek, where they were met by a force sent to intercept them. 
The order to charge with the bayonet was followed by a swift 



15 

rush across the creek, the routed Confederates flying before 
the gleaming steel, and the army bivouacked for the night be- 
fore La Vergne. 

After five days' fighting into position the army formed line 
of battle in front of Murfreesboro. Summoning his corps 
commanders the General promulgated his plan of battle. Gen- 
eral McCook was to occupy the most advantageous position, re- 
fusing his right as much as practicable and necessary to secure 
it, to receive the attack of the enemy, or, if that did not come, 
to attack sufficiently to hold all the forces in his front. Gen- 
erals Negley and Palmer to open with skirmishing, and engage 
the enemy's center and left as far as the river. Crittenden to 
cross Van Cleve's division at the lower ford, covered and sup- 
ported by Morgan's pioneer corps, 1,700 strong, and to advance 
on Breckinridge. Wood's division to cross by brigades at the 
upper ford, and moving on Van Cleve's right, to carry every- 
thing before them to Murfreesboro. This movement would, it 
was supposed, dislodge Breckenridge, and gaining the high 
ground east of Stones River, Wood's batteries could obtain an 
enfilading fire upon the heavy body of troops massed in front 
of Negley and Palmer. The center and left, using Negley's 
right as a pivote, were to swing around through Murfreesboro 
and take the force confronting McCook in rear, driving it 
into the country towards Salem. The successful execution of 
General Rosecrans' design depended not more upon the spirit 
and gallantry of the assaulting column than upon the courage 
and obstinacy with which the position held by the Right Wing 
was maintained. Having explained this fact to General Mc- 
Cook, the commanding general asked him if, with a full knowl- 
edge of the ground over which he had fought, he could hold his 
position three hours — again alluding to his dissatisfaction with 
the direction which his line had assumed, but, as before, leav- 



16 

ing that to the corps commander — "I think I can," said Mc- 
Cook, and the conference ended. 

General Braxton Bragg, a graduate of West Point, a master 
in military science, a commander whose endurance and hard 
righting qualities in the field were more conspicuous than his 
generalship in the management of campaign, was in command 
of the Confederate army at Murfreesboro. He had taken 
up the execution of the plan of battle where it had dropped 
from the dying hand of Albert Sydney Johnston, and was 
advancing to carry it out at Shiloh, when his brigades were 
recalled by Beauregard, sick in an ambulance three miles in 
the rear. He had, by a brilliant flank movement of three 
hundred miles through a mountainous region, gained Buell's 
rear in Kentucky, only to emerge from the farthest corner of 
the State without a decisive battle. Recriminations had grown 
out of this campaign which threatened to sap the influence of 
the commanding general. General Polk had been threatened 
with court-martial, and Hardee expressed the opinion that if 
Bragg persisted in bringing charges, Polk could, if he would, 
"rip up the Kentucky campaign — tear Bragg to tatters." These 
compliments, however, passed only between prominent officers ; 
the army was in good state of discipline, although out of an 
aggregate 85,372 only 47,930 were carried on the rolls as effec- 
tives, and 30,000 were absent, with and without leave. 

Bragg had in his army about the same proportion of raw 
troops to veterans as were found in that in his front, and both 
armies were equally well armed. Men who had tested each 
other's metal at Pea Ridge, Shiloh, and Perryville, and in in- 
numerable skirmishes, were again arrayed for a final conflict. 
Here was Bragg, sullen, hard-featured, unapproachable; Polk, 
benignant, dignified, majestic ; Hardee, the superb rider, the 
strict disciplinarian, the steady, persistent fighter ; Breckin- 



17 

ridge, elegant in manner, eloquent in speech, courteous, coura- 
geous, the idol of the Kentucky brigade, and, like the men who 
composed it, dimly conscious possibly of the crime against his 
favorite dogma of States rights, and the ingratitude of a peo- 
ple whose cause they had espoused against the expressed will 
of their native State. 

Among the division commanders were Cheatham, whose 
headlong charges at Shiloh and Perry ville thousands of maimed 
soldiers both North and South had cause to remember ; Cle- 
burne, stubborn and stout of heart, blunt, impassive and heavy, 
who was destined two years later to pour out his life's blood 
upon the breastworks at Franklin ; McCown and Withers of 
lesser note, and a host of brigade and regimental commanders 
who had won their rank under the eyes of their grim com- 
mander. 

General Rosecrans, having arranged his plan of battle, 
had risen early to superintend its execution. General Crit- 
tenden, whose headquarters were a few paces distant, mounted 
at 6 A. M., and with his staff rode to an eminence, where the 
chief, surrounded by his staff officers, sat on their horses lis- 
tening to the opening guns on the right. The plan of General 
Bragg was instantly divined, but no apprehension of danger 
was felt. Suddenly the woods on the right in the rear of 
Negley, appeared to be alive with men wandering aimlessly in 
the direction of the rear. The roar of artillery grows more 
distinct, mingled with continuous volleys of musketry. It can 
not be that the veteran brigades of the Right Wing are being 
driven back. McCook is surely only falling back to secure a 
position that he can hold for the promised three hours. The 
rear of a line of battle always presents the pitiable spectacle 
of a horde of skulkers — men who, when tried in the fierce 
flame of battle, find, often to their own disgust, that they are 



18 

lacking in the element of courage. But the sight of whole 
regiments of soldiers flying in panic to the rear was a sight 
never seen but on that solitary occasion, before or since, by 
the Army of the Cumberland. Captain Otis, from his position 
on the extreme right, who arrives breathless, his horse reeking 
with foam, to inform General Rosecrans that the Right Wing 
is in rapid retreat. The astounding intelligence is confirmed 
a moment later by a staff officer from General McCook, call- 
ing for reinforcements. "Tell General McCook," roared the 
chief, "to contest every inch of ground. If he holds them, we 
will swing into Murfreesboro and cut them off." Then Rous- 
seau, with his reserves, was sent into the fight, and Van Cleve, 
at the head of Crittenden's old Shiloh division, came dashing 
across the fields, with water dripping from their clothing, to 
take a hand in the fray. Harker's brigade was withdrawn 
from the left and sent in on Rousseau's right, and the Pioneer 
brigade, relieved at the ford by Price's brigade, was posted on 
Harker's right. The remaining brigades of Van Cleve's di- 
vision, Beatty's and Fyffe's, formed on the extreme right, and 
thus an improvised line half a mile in extent, presented a new 
and unexpected front to the approaching enemy. It was a 
trying position to Van Cleve's men to stand in line, a living 
wall, while the panic-stricken soldiers of McCook's beaten regi- 
ments, flying in terror through the woods, rushed past them, 
the sharp rattle of McCown's musketry behind them lending 
wings to their flight. The Union lines could not fire, for their 
comrades were between them and the enemy. Rosecrans 
seemed ubiquitous. All these dispositions had been made un- 
der his personal direction. Finding Sheridan coming out of 
the cedars into which Rousseau had just retired, he directed 
him to the ammunition train, with orders to fill his cartridge 
boxes and return to the support of Hazen's brigade on the 



19 

edge of the Round Forrest. Captain Morton, with the Pion- 
eers and the Chicago Board of Trade Battery, pushed into the 
cedars, and disappeared from view simultaneously with Harker. 
The general course of the tide of stragglers toward the rear 
struck the turnpike at the point where Van Cleve stood impa- 
tiently awaiting the order to advance. All along the line men 
were falling, struck by the bullets of the enemy, who soon 
appeared at the edge of the woods on Morton's flank. The 
order to charge was given by General Rosecrans in person, and, 
like hounds from the leash, the division sprang forward, re- 
serving their fire for close quarters. It was the crisis in the 
battle. If this line was broken all was lost. Every man 
rose to the occasion and proved himself a hero. Steadily, as 
a majestic river moves on its resistless way, the line swept for- 
ward, sending a shower of bullets to the front. The left was 
now exposed to attack, and, riding rapidly to the ford, General 
Rosecrans inquired who commanded the brigade. "I do, sir," 
said Colonel Price. "Will you hold this ford?" "I will try, 
sir." "Will you hold this ford?" "I will die right here." 
"Will you hold this ford?" for the third time thundered the 
general. "Yes, -sir," said the colonel. "That will do" ; and 
away galloped the general to where Palmer was contending 
against long odds for the possession of the Round Forrest in 
the center of the line. All along the line from Van Cleve's 
right to Wood's left, the space gradually narrowed between 
the contending hosts. The weak had gone to the rear ; no 
room now for any but brave men, and no time given for new 
dispositions ; every man who had a stomach for fighting was 
engaged on the firing line. From a right angle the Confederate 
left had been pressed back by Van Cleve and Harker and the 
Pioneers to an angle of forty-five degrees in less than that num- 
ber of minutes. This advance brought Van Cleve within view 



20 

of Rousseau, who at once requested him to form on his right. 
Harker, entering the woods on the left of Van Cleve, passed 
to his right, and now closed up on his flank. The enemy had 
fallen back stubbornly fighting, and made a stand on the left 
of Cheatham. Brave old Van Cleve, his white hair streaming 
in the wind, the blood flowing from a gaping wound in his 
foot, rode gallantly along the line to where Harker was stiffly 
holding his position, with his right "in the air." Bidding him 
to hold fast to every inch of ground, he rode to Swallow's 
Battery, which was working with the rapidity of a steam fire- 
engine, "Don't let them get your guns, Swallow !" he shouted, 
as he dashed by on his way to the left, where Sam Beatty, 
heavy and impassive, was pounding away with his minie rifles 
at a line of men who seemed always on the point of advancing. 
The brigades of Stanley and Miller having fallen back, as pre- 
viously described, and the entire strength of Cheatham and 
three brigades of Withers and Cleburne having fallen upon 
Rousseau, he had fallen back into the open field, where he 
found Van Cleve. Loomis's and Guenthers' batteries, double- 
shotted with canister, were posted on a ridge, and as the Con- 
federate line advanced, opened upon it with terrible force. 
Men fell like ripened grain before a reaper, but the line moved 
straight ahead. The field, swept by a storm of iron hail, 
was covered with dead and wounded men. The deep bass of 
the artillery was mingled with the higher notes of the minie 
rifles, while the brief pauses could be distinguished the quickly- 
spoken orders of the commanding officers, and the groans of 
the wounded. It was the full orchestra of battle. But there is 
a limit of human endurance. The Confederate brigades, now 
melted to three-fourths their original numbers, wavered and 
fell back; again and again they reformed in the woods and 
advanced to the charge, only to meet with a bloody repulse. 



21 

Four deliberate and sustained attempts were made to carry 
the position, and each failed. While these events were fol- 
lowing each other in rapid succession, and some of them 
occurring simultaneously, the Left Wing had not only held its 
position,, but had furnished three brigades to repel the advance 
of Bragg's left upon the rear of the army. 

While Colonel Hazen was gallantly defending the left of the 
line from nine o'clock in the morning until two in the after- 
noon, the fight raged no less furiously on his immediate 
right. Here a line composed of two brigades of Palmer's 
division and one of Wood's, filled out by the remains of Sheri- 
dan's divisions, who, after they had replenished their ammuni- 
tion, formed behind the railroad embankment at right angles 
with Hazen's brigade, which alone retained its position upon 
the original line. Farther to the right was Rousseau, with 
Van Cleve and Harker on his right. I leave to more graphic 
pens to describe the grand pyrotechnics of the battle field at 
this supreme moment when victory hung evenly balanced. 
Past the crowd of fugitives from the Right Wing the un- 
daunted soldiers of the Left and Center had swept "with the 
light of battle in their faces, and now in strong array they 
stood like a rock-bound coast beating back the tide which 
threatened to engulf the rear. Along this line rode Rosecrans 
with face illuminated by the light of exalted courage ; Thomas, 
calm, inflexible as a mighty judge, from whose gaze skulkers 
shrank abashed ; Crittenden, cheerful and full of hope, compli- 
menting his men as he rode along the lines ; Rousseau, whose 
fiery impetuosity no disaster could quell ; Palmer, with a stock 
of cool courage and presence of mind equal to any emergency ; 
Wood, suffering from a wound in his heel, stayed in the sad- 
dle, but had lost the jocularity which usually characterized him. 
"Good-bye, General, 'we will all meet at the hatter's' as one 



22 

coon said to another when the dogs were after them," he said 
to Crittenden early in the action, but at ten o'clock a minie 
ball struck his boot and lacerated his heel — his good humor 
was gone for the day. "Are we going about it right now, 
General?" asked Morton, as he glanced along the blazing line 
of muskets to where the Chicago battery quivered with the 
rapidity of its discharges. "All right, fire low," said the 
chief as he dashed by. Colonel Grose, always in his place, 
had command of the Ammen brigade, the "glorious Tenth" of 
Shiloh memory, with which, and, with Hazen's and Cruft's 
brigades, the gallant and lamented Nelson had swept, like an 
avenging Nemesis, upon the right of Beauregard's victorious 
army, driving it back to its base at Corinth. 

After the formation of this line at noon it never receded; as 
has been stated, the right swung around until, at two o'clock, 
about one-half of the lost ground had been retaken. The 
artillery, more than fifty guns, was massed in the open ground 
behind the angle in the line ; twenty-eight guns had been cap- 
tured, when they poured a continuous torrent of iron missiles 
upon the Confederate line. They could not fire amiss. The 
fire from Cox's Battery was directed upon Hanson's brigade 
across the river, where Cobb, with Napoleons, returned the 
compliment with zeal and precision. Schaefer's brigade hav- 
ing received a new stock of cartridges, formed on Palmer's 
right, where later the brave commander received his death 
wound, the last of Sheridan's brigade commanders who had 
fallen during the day. 

At four o'clock it became evident to the Confedrate com- 
mander that his only hope of success lay in a charge upon 
the Union left, which, by its overpowering weight, should 
carry everything before it. The movement of Cleburne to 
the left in support of McCown had deprived him of reserves; 



23 

but Breckinridge had four brigades unemployed on the right, 
and these were peremptorily ordered across the river to the 
support of General Polk. The error made by General Polk 
in making an attack with the two brigades that first arrived 
upon the field, instead of awaiting the arrival of General 
Breckinridge with the remaining brigades, was so palpable as 
to render an excuse for failure necessary. This was easily 
found in the tardy execution of Bragg's order by Breckin- 
ridge, and resulted in sharp criticism of the latter. The Third 
Kentucky, now nearly annihilated, and its Colonel, Sam 
McKee, killed, was relieved by the Fifty-eighth Indiana, 
Colonel George P. Buell. The Sixth Ohio, with the 
gallant Colonel Nicholas L. Anderson at its head, took 
position on the right of the Twenty-sixth Ohio, with its 
right advanced so that its line of fire would sweep the front 
of the regiments on its left. The Ninety-seventh Ohio and 
One Hundredth Illinois came up and still further strengthened 
the right of Hazen's position. They had not long to wait 
for the attack. These dispositions had barely been made when 
a long line of infantry emerged from behind the hill. Adam's 
and Jackson's fresh brigades were on the right, and Donelson's 
and Chalmers's, badly cut up but stout of heart, were on the 
left. Out they came in splendid style, full six thousand strong. 
Estepp's case-shot tore through their ranks, but the gaps 
closed up. Parsons sent volley after volley of grape shot 
against it, and the Sixth and Twenty-sixth Ohio, taking up the 
refrain, added the sharp rattle of their minie rifles to the un- 
earthly din. Still the line pressed forward, firing as they 
came, nor wavered in the onward march, until met by a simul- 
taneous volley of musketry which stretched hundreds of their 
number mangled upon the earth. They staggered back, but, 
quickly reformed and reinforced by Preston and Palmer, ad- 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




24 



013 706 758 4 



vanced again to the charge. The battle had hushed on the 
extreme right, and the dreadful splendor of this advance is 
indescribable. The right was even with the left of the Union 
line, and the left stretched way past the point of woods from 
which Negley had retired. It was such a charge as this that 
broke the lines of Wallace and Hurlbut at Shiloh, and en- 
veloped Prentice in its strong embrace. It had no sooner 
moved into the open field from the cover of the river bank 
than it was saluted with such a roar of artillery as shook the 
earth. Men plucked the cotton from the bolls at their feet 
and stuffed it in their ears. No human force could withstand 
the tornado of iron that swept against it. Huge gaps were torn 
in it at every discharge. Men lay in heaps before and behind 
it. Shells exploding sent showers of mangled forms into the 
air. They staggered forward half the distance across the 
fields, when the infantry lines blazed in their front, and a 
shower of minie balls was added to the fury of the storm. 
They wavered and fell back. The field was won. Night fell 
upon a field strewn with the mangled forms of men, who, but 
twenty-four hours before were buoyant with life and hope, 
upon the faces of dead men turned upward to the sky ; upon 
long lines of infantry faint for lack of food and gasping for 
water ; upon a horde of panic-stricken men wending their way 
in solemn procession to the rear, "where the subsequent pro- 
ceedings interested them no more," and upon Walker's and 
Shackelford's brigades marching to the front, Garesche, 
Schaefer, Sill, Roberts, McKee, and genial, happy hearted 
Fred. Jones, and a host of others were dead or suffering mor- 
tal agony. 

The first day's fight was over. 



A 



AOV 0F CONGRESS 

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